In the

philosophy of language Philosophy of language refers to the philosophical study of the nature of language. It investigates the relationship between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of Meaning (philosophy), me ...

, failure to refer, also reference failure, referential failure or failure of reference, is the concept that names can fail to name a real object. According to

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

's theory of truth, there is only one actual world, and a statement's

truth value In logic and mathematics, a truth value, sometimes called a logical value, is a value indicating the relation of a proposition to truth, which in classical logic has only two possible values ('' true'' or '' false''). Truth values are used in ...

depends on whether the statement obtains in the actual world. Continuing the tradition of

Gottlob Frege Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege (; ; 8 November 1848 – 26 July 1925) was a German philosopher, logician, and mathematician. He was a mathematics professor at the University of Jena, and is understood by many to be the father of analytic philos ...

, Bertrand Russell posited that a name picks out, or refers to, a real object in the world (Russell's

correspondence theory of truth In metaphysics and philosophy of language, the correspondence theory of truth states that the truth or falsity of a statement is determined only by how it relates to the world and whether it accurately describes (i.e., corresponds with) that worl ...

). The name ''

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

'' thus picks out the 12th and 13th century

Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...

leader we know by that name. Any sentence in which we attach a predicate to the name ''Genghis Khan'' is true if the predicate obtains in the actual world. Any sentence in which the predicate does not obtain for Genghis Khan is false. The Wikipedia statement “''Genghis Khan founded the largest contiguous empire in world history''” is thus true, and the statement “''Genghis Khan was one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London''” is false. As an example for a name that fails to refer to a real object, Russell used “''the present king of France''“ in a 1905 article.

Truth values in fictional world

Distinguishing between fictional statements and false statements

According to the Russellian theory of reference, the statement "

Long John Silver Long John Silver is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1883 novel '' Treasure Island'' by Robert Louis Stevenson. The most colourful and complex character in the book, he continues to appear in popular culture. His missing leg ...

has a wooden leg" and the statement " Earth's moon has a diameter of four meters" are both false. The first statement suffers reference failure, because it fails to pick out an individual in the actual world. The second sentence refers to an object in the actual world, but the predicate does not match the actual world, the actual diameter being more than 3470 km. Russell's theory thus does not assign different

truth-value In logic and mathematics, a truth value, sometimes called a logical value, is a value indicating the relation of a proposition to truth, which in classical logic has only two possible values ('' true'' or '' false''). Truth values are used in c ...

s to the two statements.

True and false statements in fiction

In the Russellian system, the statement "Long John Silver has a wooden leg" and the statement "Long John Silver was one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London" have the same truth value: false. This equality may present problems for those wishing to distinguish such statements in terms of truth value.

Real referents in fictional worlds

Some statements are false with reference to the actual world but potentially true in reference to some fictional world. Coleridge's poem "

Kubla Khan "Kubla Khan: or A Vision in a Dream" () is a poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, completed in 1797 and published in 1816. It is sometimes given the subtitles "A Vision in a Dream" and "A Fragment." According to Coleridge's preface to "Kub ...

" ("In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree") does not, strictly speaking, suffer reference failure. The 18th century version of the name Kublai Khan picks out a Mongol emperor, the grandson of Genghis Khan. But since few of the events in Coleridge's narrative poem obtain in the actual world, according to Russellian logic, most statements in the poem are false.

References

{{Reflist Concepts in the philosophy of language Bertrand Russell

Truth values in fictional world

Distinguishing between fictional statements and false statements

True and false statements in fiction

Real referents in fictional worlds

See also

References